Sunday 12 January 2020

Bar-Headed Geese Spotted at The Sultanpur National Park


Bar-Headed Geese are the only birds that can fly at a height of 22,000 feet and that too without Oxygen! How these migratory birds manage this feat is not only baffling but also a matter for research by scientists.


This year I spotted them at the Sultanpur National Park one foggy morning on the eleventh of  January 2020. It was foggy and the visibility was not really conducive for photographing these amazing birds.


The only other time I spotted them was a couple of years ago at the Basai Wetland even as they had gathered in the morning on a field.


Bar-headed Geese are among the most elegant and graceful birds I have ever seen! They are built for cruising at great heights. They are also a most 'socially' integrated species and I noticed some of them touching beaks after they had landed on a lake. One appreciable step taken by the National Park authorities has been flooding areas on the outskirts of the park with water forming different lakes for migratory birds to settle on.




Bar-headed geese make a lot of noise as they fly and you might be able to hear them before they appear. Once they land on water, they move as one even as they flew in formation in the sky. To enjoy the snaps I suggest you zoom in on them. The fog made clarity a challenge, but then, I guess it is the experience of having seen these beautiful birds in flight that makes up for the snaps.




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